Slaves, Free Men, Citizens - CIFAS

64 Whites in a Slave Societyease with which their wishes became laws for their slamWhat dangen for a.time of life when the passions competefor a heart predisposed to feel acutely both their impactand their tunnoillIt is then that the Creole, losing sight of everything thatis not apt to satisfy his passions and disregarding everythingthat does not bear the mark of pleasure, abandons himselfto the whi~lwind that is about to caq him off. Deliriouslyinfatuated with dancing, music [phes, and everything thatbeguiles and feeds his desires], he seems to exist only forvoluptuous pleasures.How difEcult it is for such inclinations not to becomedisast~ous in a place where it is so uncustomary to controlthem! How is it possible to curb a passionate temperamentwhere the only preoccupation of a large number of women,the offsphg of white men and female slaves, is to avengethemselves with the weapons of love for being condemnedto degradation? 'Thus, passions exert all their power in thehearts of most C~eoles, and when at last [the ills they havebegotten or] the feebleness of old age anives, it does notalways extinguish desire, the cruelest of all passions.It can tmly be said that everything concurs to mold thewell-known impetuous, lively, and fickle Creole temper,rendering them so unfit for marriage, in which happinesscan only be fashioned by mutual constancy. Made jealousby their vanity, they are tormented by the fear of unfaithfulness,of which they themselves are the prime examples.Yet, happy is the betrayed wife who, while sdering theinsult of being under suspicion, is not sometimes condemnedto endure before her very eyes the rival who robher of the tokens of love solemnly avowed her.The faults of the Creole, among which must be includeda passion for gambling, are nevertheless redeemed by a hostof estimable qualities. Sincere, affable, generous to the pointof ostentation, confident, courageous, reliable friends andgood fathers, they are exempt from the ches which degradehumanity: the annals of a colony as large as !bin&Domingue provide scarcely any Creole names to inscribeon the list of tximbals. How easy it would be to make theinhabitant8 of this prosperous Colony as meritoriow as mynow cited as inimitable models.One of the principal virtues of the Creole js hpitdity.What I have mid of tbeiu longing to go to Fbnca shouldsu&a to prove that them is little social life in Saint-Domingue, md that thia Went disposition ia certainlynot conducive to making it pleasant. This is reason enoughto welcome, on the estates, travelem who can vary the usualmonotony. In a vast land of great wealth, where there areno pthouses, where a sod number of inns cater onlyto those witbout mlations in the Colony, hospitality takeson the quality of generosity, which h honor to those whopmctice it. Some plantem devote more than 30,000 limto horn carriages, and coachmen for the convenience ofthose who d to go from place to place in the Colony.But why not ddve oneself? It would wtly embanasstbe Empans to reveal the lengths to which the plantmexert themselves, the di!Eculties they incw on thein behalf.Lkspite this unhappy experience, a man acknowledged asthe friend of one lone planter can still undertake a tourof the Colony, and if hia penonal qualities make him likable,he is c e d to take away regrets from all the placeswhere successive introductions would have made him welcome.The mole character is also visible in the way they travel.Little hones of mediocre appearance are made to carrymian chain or cubriokts at speeds of three or even fourleagum an hour. This rate of speed underscores the Odehabit of demanding [energetically] and of being obeyedpromptly. 'The coachman who knows his master's nature[incemntly spun on hii steeds], shams hii impatience, andtakes pdde in not being outdistanced. Homes a10 still anarticle of luxury for the planW, so much so that on theleast pretext a messenger on horseback is dispatched who,by the rapidity of his progms and the screams with whichhe wgea on his sweateemd mount, could be taken fora courier bearing news of an event of interest to the wholeColony.The Creoles of Saint-Dome are lea subject than the